this is today's "worldwide exchange." i'm ross westgate. >> and i'm kelly evans. these are your headlines from around the world. >> china's economic growth stalls in the first quart, gdp coming in at 7.7% because of weaker industrial output. that's weighed on mining stocks the. and greece getting the all clear from the troika following the review of its austerity program which should see some $2.2 billion of aid relief. germany launches its election campaign. both parties vowing their party for the cyprus aid package.

that is the cypriot finance minister tells cnbc, he has growth plans for the economy, but acknowledges there are tough times coming. >> we know we are in for an upright, but the sooner and the more decisive our actions will be now, the sooner we shall be over this difficulty period. and earnings begin to flood in this week. the dow, s&p 500 are getting set to report results. >> announcer: you're watching "worldwide exchange," bringing you business news from around the globe. all right. >> back together. >> back together. >> for a couple of weeks. been anywhere? >> around europe, around england all weekend. it was timely nice weather yesterday, though. but we saw stratford upon avon,

oxford a little bit. i love the attitude ooe oor sty. i'm such a sucker. do you know what i did last week? notre dame cathedral. you can go to mass there. at 8:00 in the morning, there were probably 15 people total. it was a really cool experience. anyway, back now. i'm back now. >> good. and a lot to talk about at the beginning of a new week. u.s. secretary of state john kerry is opening the talks with north korea if the nation scales back its nuclear ambitions. but will pyongyang answer the call? we'll be in seoul. >> and as china's property sector shows in signs of cooling, we'll head out to beijing to talk about the property bubble.

>> japan, we'll get the latest reaction from tokyo at 10:40 cet. >> and the opposition in venezuela is crying foul. we'll bring you the latest analysis and what this means from the opec magz about 11:00 cet. >> kelly, most experience facing a deadline to file taxes. we'll find out why investing real estate abroad might be a win-win situation. were you on the computer last night? >> i'm a little concerned. my dad is going to be so upset if he hears this. need to get on this issue, april 15th, deadline day here. >> you've got until sort of 5:00 tomorrow morning. >> well, but it's also because i'm over here and not over there. there's an extension involved or something. >> is that so? >> i hope so.

>> january 31st here is the final filing day. >> that schans some behavior. >> moving on. industrial output was one of the reasons for disappointment in china and it eased 208.9% from the january and february period. eunice yoon is in beijing and joins us now. eunice, data is disappointing people and it's the industrial production figures that are weak. >> right. the industrial production numbers are weak and a whole set of numbers are disappointing people, for sure. a lot of people have been talking about how the numbers are so much weaker than they had expected, even though from a relative basis, 7.7% growth sounds like a pretty good number. now, what we're seeing, though, here is that this data is feeding into a larger debate on just how the economy is rebalancing. is it rebalancing or is it not rebalancing? and is people have been talking

about how, you know, just going into these figures this morning, everybody was expecting the numbers to either meet or beat expectations because the credit has been so easy, there has been a lot of solid expert growth here, as well. people were expecting stronger numbers. but now you're seeing that despite the fact that the authorities have been turning up the credit, the real economy hasn't really seen that credit. there's an inefficient use there. people are wondering whether or not this current economic growth model is starting to putter. now, this morning also we heard from the authorities about how they were trying to play down some of these growth figures and the slower growth and also play up the consumption numbers. one official in particular had said that consumption compared to gdp was actually looking low as though it's playing a greater role in the economy. but we still don't know whether or not that means that this is a successful transitioning to where the economy is relying

more on the consumer or if it actually means that just we're seeing rebalancing by default because the investment portion is starting to come down. so then naturally the consumption portion plays a larger role. >> we also have some concerns about bird flu. ross heading off to hong kong in a couple of days, as well. how much is that playing in, do you think, to some of the concern across the region here? >> not in this set of numbers, but definitely if terms of concern. the chinese media have been reporting that the poultry farmers and the industry in the past week have lost over $1.5 billion because people are not eating chicken. it doesn't make a lot of sense this that right now the eggs and the -- eating basically chicken meat or eggs isn't the problem, but feeding into that whole mentality where people are starting to get more and more concerned of the spread.

over the weekend, we learned that the outbreak had moved from the eastern part of the country to the central part of the country and has reached beijing. even though, again, the authorities have said no human to human transmission which is the scary part, but still, it's feeding into a lot of people's concerns that, you know, that this outbreak could actually get larger and larger. >> we'll leave it there for now, eunice. great to see you. we'll have more from eunice coming up in the program. >> i'll be seeing eunice this coming weekend. >> is she going to be in hong kong? >> no. in kunming together. >> what is that? >> you can tell me more about u kunming. >> it's in the southwest. it's along the border with burma. it's supposed to be one of the most beautiful areas of the country. i haven't seen it and i'm really excited to see you there.

>> good. so am i. >> and we will be able to escape bird flu because it supposedly hasn't reached there yet. >> that is what i was going to ask you. thank you for that, eunice. we'll catch you a little later. >> i know. i think i am going to try and follow suit in a couple of weeks. let's get more from the analysis of what's happening with the economy. jing joins us now from beijing. a lot of people saying these chinese figures are continue to go disappointment. is it fundamentally call the economy into question? >> well, you know, in the first quarter, gdp groeth was disappointing. most people were forecasting 8%. if you look at the components of growth on many measures, quite a few of the components were disappointing, as well. industrial production, consumption, retail sales, or even numbers such as power generation and freight volume

were below expectations. so no wonder we got a number of 7.7%, which is below most people's forecast. going forward, people are wondering what the government might do to try and stimulate domestic consumption, because in this environment, we really cannot count on the external export growth to drive china's gdp any more. >> yeah. so, jing, look, where do we go from here? are we still in this pattern of export investment growth? we heard about consumption pickup, are we going to be able to move away from an investment side? >> well, you know, that's going to be a long process. it's not going to take place in the next year or two. it's going to take years perhaps. in terms of the investments, some are necessary and healthy. for example, mass transit systems, subways for china's overcrowded cities. however, some of the other

investments are not full productions. for example, investments in already crowded industries, such as steel or aluminum melting would not be very productive. now, in terms of consumption, we're seeing a nice pick up in terms of lower income brackets and growth. however, at the very high end, due to the government anti-corruption campaign, we did see a slowdown in a consumption of luxury goods as well as high investmentes and high in liquor. >> what happens now with pboc policy and also what happens with government controls on real estate? >> well, importantly, we feed to pay attention to what's happening to china's bank lending and the so-called aggregate social financing. these numbers were extremely high in the first quarter. so, therefore, this is doubly disappointing to the market that gdp growth was still very low of 7.7% in china's context despite a strong credit in the first quarter. for now, we see the central bank

will keep interest rates steady. they will not raise or reduce a reverse requirement ratio. they probably should guide where lenning is going. you have to see the recovery of the small and medium sized enterprises. they need to give more credit to the vibrant part of the economy. and finally, in terms of housing, we are going to have a relatively slower quarter in the second quarter of this year because new measures were announced in march of this year. transaction volume ones in april have already come down. therefore, a second quarter, the property market is not going to be as strong as the first quarter. >> jing, good to see you, as always. thank you for that. >> thank you. u.s. secretary of state john kerry has called for a united front against north korea's nuclear ambitions, this in a visit to tokyo with the japanese prime minister shinzo abe.

earlier, he said washington was willing to engage directly with north korea, but only if they give up their nuclear program. >> there can be no conassumption on this point. the north's dangerous missile program threatens not only north korea's neighbors, but it threatens its own people. and it threatens the contest of the pacific dreams. the united states remains open to authentic and credible negotiations on denuclearization, but the burden is on pyongyang. >> so that was mr. kerry. joining us from seoul is jim maseda. how would you describe tensions through today and through the weekend? >> well, going down, i would say. you know, today, the whole world is watching the so-called missile launch. it's well anticipated. this is also the day of the sun,

ross, in pyongyang and it's the day when the north korea puts on a major parade to show off its latest weaponry. it's already late in the afternoon here. we haven't seen any sign of that military pray, much less a missile launch. north korea never said it would launch a missile. that was always predicated on the next move by the u.s. and south korea and they've been walking on egg shells over the past number of days. now, it doesn't mean north korea won't take some provocative action in the days ahead and south korea is saying it's going to maintain a high state of alert just in case. but a lot of analysts are weighing in saying this was kim jong un's way of saying, yes, i hear you when it comes to south korea and the u.s. dialing down the tension.

secretary of state kerry offered talks if they looz leave nuclear weapons. it's hard to see how diplomacy is going to bring about an end to this standoff. but it is a start. the parties are at least appearing now to be moving away from confrontation and towards talking. that's a good start. >> and it faels on an important day, as well. jim, today marks the birthday of north korea's founder. celebrations have begun with mass rallies and the unveiling of statues of former korean leaders. the world is watching and waiting to see if the isolated country will use this significant day to test launch its missiles. jim, you mentioned that the military parade expected for today hasn't happened. do you take all this as a sign of less tension, perhaps, than

we might have expected on this important day? >> well, as i was just saying to ross, it's hard to judge. it could be a sign of less tension and all the indications are that they are trying to create some space. but you never know because it is north korea ask we don't have any insight, a look at or intelligence of kim jong's next move. we know it's a festive day there today. it's unlikely there will be any kind of trike to overshadow this day in north korea. but military intelligence is saying we're staying on the highest alert because we don't know what might happen next. >> jim, thanks very much. meanwhile, here we are, an hour and 15 minutes into trading day. europe, you can see we're down at the session lows at the

moment. 8 to 1 decliners outpacing advancers. take a look at the individual bourses. we had an up week despite the sell off on friday. we're getting down to near percent losses at the moment. xetra dax down 0.6%. the ftse down 0.8%, as well. on the sector performance, it's all been driven really by that china gdp first thing this morning. basic resources down heavily, off 3%. you can see that reflected in commodity prices, as well. gold down to a fresh two-year low at the moment. we've seen some of the future there. 1439 is the spot price where we stand. brent is down to 101.44. also down to weak data hitting the outlook, as well, and nymex 89.07 at the moment. we're down to a near nine-month low on brent. the bond market has helped yields in the u.s., 1.72%, as

well. slightly higher in spain and italy, but the 10-year bund yield is at 1.62%. as far as currency markets, let's focus in on the aussie. aussie/dollar, 1.0419. we've slipped away from that. also, that weaker chinese data is helping safe haven flows. dollar/yen at the moment, 98.07. 99.95 was the mark that we hit that four-year high that we hit on thursday, as well. euro/dollar, just over 1.3060. that's where we are in europe being driven by that news. let's get reaction from asia. li sixuan is with us in singapore. >> thank you, ross. asian markets kicked off the week in the red as the softer than expected u.s. and can china data raised concerns over the global economy, sending risk

assetes and commodity shares lower. the shanghai composite lost 1.1% on the back of the data. gold miners plummeted following the sharp sell-off on gold on wall street. but property measures bucked the latest trend after an investment in real estate investment and a 50% jump in first quarter sales from a year ago. a similar picture in hong kong where the hang seng lost 1.4%. japan's nikkei 225 slipped further from a near five-year high down 1.6% today. the dismal u.s. retail sales data drags japanese exports lower. but sharp shooters jumped over 10% after the nikkei reported that the cash-strapped company has decided to sell its 90% stake in pioneer corp. in south korea, steelmakers dragged on the kospi.

but psy over-shadowed global tensions with the north. his new video hit a record just over the past few days. in australia, not surprisingly, losses in resources stocks weighed on the commodity heavy asx 200 closing down nearly 1%. and india's sensex is now still on the move, bucking the down trend higher by 0.6 of%. back to you. >> sixuan, thanks for that. still to come on today's program, germany's angela merkel under pressure from opposition parties. this is election campaign season now gets into full swing. carolin has been at the sbd conference. she'll join us from munich right after this. welcnew york state, where cutting taxes for families and businesses

is our business. we've reduced taxes and lowered costs to save businesses more than two billion dollars to grow jobs, cut middle class income taxes to the lowest rate in sixty years, and we're creating tax free zones for business startups. the new new york is working creating tens of thousands of new businesses, and we're just getting started. to grow or start your business visit thenewny.com

germany's newest political party is gathering momentum ahead of the the elections. the alternative party has gained over 7.5 thousand reporters. lukey told supporters that his main goal is to abolish the

single currency. if left cdp party had its conference yesterday. carolin is in munich for us and joins us now. carolin, where is this election going to focus? >> good morning to you, ross. it's going to focus on social fairness. this was the manifesto that was unveiled at the party conference around an hour north of here yesterday. it is all about cracking down on tax evasion. it is about introducing a minimum wage. it is about raising the taxes for the top income earners to 49%. but yesterday was all about domestic politics, really, and after the conference i actually managed to catch up with herr steinberg, the challenger for the chancellor's post. we talked about the issue of

european integration and he made it very clear to me that the spd finds it extremely important that we show solidarity with our european neighbors. >> translator: i am trying to make it very clear to my fellow germans that germany will only fare as well as its european neighbors. for those who believe -- i want to point out that germany is an export oriented company. it directly impacts germany with its heavy export growth driven model. >> what do the german elections mean for your moenl and your investment? thank you for joining us here on this beautiful day. mr. steinberg has made it very clear, he understands the significance of keeping the german export sector humming. does it matter which party actually wins the election? does it matter which coalition will come out first? what is the impact going to be on german stocks? >> well, i think it's a little

bit delicate. we have seen that there is indeed a deterioration in german competitiveness of late. we have seen unit labor costs rising. so i think all the measures that have been put forward by the spd are not really something that will improve the competitiveness of germany going forward, of minimum wage, for example. so i am skeptical that the spd could boost competitiveness. >> what does it mean for stocks and the sectors you want your clients to invest in? >> basically, we are overweighting cyclical stocks, we are overweighting also the low rated value play. i think later in the year, this might happen, anyhow.

we might think even about going to -- here in the cyclicals base for german equities. if you think that the head wents might increase somewhat. >> obviously, ur not a political analyst, but off camera you told me at this point it is more likely we'll see grand coalition. to what extent would this impact how you want to allocate your money in germany? >> basically, in germany, i would say so far there is little alternative to stocks. what we learned, however, is also that a wealth tax would be introduced. this would mean that the money that came into the market from abroad over the last couple of years might shun germany. we are no longer the safe haven. if we have a wealth tax, that's not helpful. if you have rent caps, that certainly is not helpful for all

the investments that came to germany over the last several years. so the up shot is that i would be careful looking into the elections. so far, a grand coalition is the most likely outcome. also, the existing coalition can make it. they can improve their rankings in the latest poll. but spd government with no cdu inclusion in the government, i think this would certainly have a more leftist flavor and that is not very much received from foreign investors, i think. >> thank you so much for that. so a little caution going into the election in september. back over to you. >> yeah. i can't wait for another election campaign. carolin, thanks for that. meanwhile, the german finance minister says he expects the german parliament to approve cyprus's bailout with a solid majority. the bun did he stag is set to

vote on the bailout package this thursday. over the weekend, cyprus's new finance minister explained how they would come up with the $13 billion it now needs to find under the terms of its aid deal. >> the provision res there. so we have the -- that we need. we also rely on the ems and we are ready to start work for the recovery of our economy. >> and wa do you plan to do to boost growth? do you have a plan in place to build the economy? >> yes, we are drafting a plan, a plan that goes above and beyond the mou. it's going to be a plan for growth and development. the cabinet will be thinking about a two-day recession monday and tuesday. we shall do whatever it takes to kick start our economy and be on

growth rate the soonest. we know that we are in for an upright, but the sooner and more decisive our actions will be now, the sooner we selected this difficult period. >> and where specifically are you going to forward toward the property? what is going to be the generator of growth? >> traditional industries, tourism, shipping among them. we shall be offering incentives for their sort of on development. we have very promising new prospects ahead like the energy sector, which we'll take very careful steps to develop it the soonest. we are in difficulty now, but i am very confident about the medium and long-term prospects of the economy, the prospects are there.

they are excellent. and we shall make sure that they are realized. >> can i ask if the european officials have given any indication of the size of additional assistance they can provide in terms of funds? >> there has been been a talk about size and number. but we are encouraged by the commitment that there will be assistance. there will be a helping hand during this difficult period we are going through. the correction we are going through is unprecedented. there will be a reaction. so this helping hand both in technical and financial terms is much needed and we rely on it. >> the expert prospect in the medium term. >> try. try. >> still to come, we'll bring you more analysis of the situation. >> that's right.

when we come back. don't do go anywhere.

china's economic growth unexpectedly stalls.

gdp coming in at 7.7% because of weaker industrial output. greece gets the all clear from the troika following its review from its austerity program. germany's opposition, the spd launches its election campaign against the cdu. we'll hear from its leader peer steinberg. and this as the cypriot finance minister has acknowledged tough times ahead. >> we know that we are in for a fight, but the sooner and the more decisive our actions will be now, the sooner we shall -- this period. and the dow and nearly a third of the s&p 500 gets set to report results. european stocks down near

the session lows the.we're on them. the ftse now off a percent. it's being dragged low by commodity markets. >> take a look at what is happening in oil. gold underperforming again and this follows a weak end to the last week, we should say. and all of this as china's economic recovery, first quarter gdp came in lower than forecast. but the property sector remained resilient. this even as the government rolls out measure toes try and reign in the market. eunice yoon is back with us from beijing. eunice, it sounds like a nasty combination. yet the property market seemingly won't cool. >> well, that's right. it's always like that.

in fact, they're trying to reign in some of the property market which they think could potentially turn into a bubble without create ago bust. >> if you live in china, you buy and sell property in a place like this. every housing transaction for the city takes place here. these days, the place is crammed full of homeowners like joe ma. >> why do chinese people like to buy houses so much? >> there is no other way to -- your money. >> real estate is a popular way to invest here. but unlike other places, average chinese have few investment options. capital controls prevent most people from moving cash overseas while bank deposits give back a fraction of 1%. >> the stock always goes down. there's nothing you can -- and

the interest doesn't cover the -- >> the massive demand for property, though, is skewing the market. luxury homes are being built for investo investors, but often lay empty while there isn't enough affordable housing. 2 government is attempting to curb prices with stricter requirements for down payment, and its latest move, a 20% capital gains tax on second homes. >> thousands of people have been packing centers like this one to register their home before the tax kicks in. the workers have been telling us they're doing joerch time to keep up with the requests. >> tax base only and the second hand -- there will be no expert text. >> many are using another tactic to skirt the tax, develops. if couples set up, they can avoid the tax because each would own their own home. >> the employees here say that

the divorce rate has gone up three times since the tax policy was announced. >> translator: after the government property policy was announced, every part of the country started seeing a wave of divorces, this lawyer says. fake divorces are a social phenomenon. a develop lawyer recently helped a woman who confronted her husband on a television talk show. thus convinced her to get a fake divorce to avoid the tax, but then ran off with another woman. the two people had a fake divorce, but in the end, there's no such thing as real or fake, he says. she lost her marriage and her wealth. ma is confident he can preserve his wealth, despite the government's attempt to reign in the market. >> they're trying to do that and never -- >> eunice yoon, cnbc.

>> property investment for the first quarter did slow down, but home sales were up. kelly, that is no surprise. some of the people that we met there were waiting for two hours and had 200 people in front of them in line. everybody is trying to avoid that tax. >> and we've seen this story. we know how this ends anytime there's a property bubble. eunice yoon, thanks. love that package. it's great to see you. we'll have more with her later in the ram. as the equity market in china continues to underperform it only reinforces the extent to which people want property instead of stocks. >> there are only two investable asset necessary china, property or stocks to stick your money into. >> and if you look at the performance of the two, you can see why people continue to rush in. speaking of the region, no japan on track to hit its inflation target. makiko joins us now live with this story from tokyo. hi, makiko. >> hello there. the bank of japan's governor says his country's financial

system is stable after unprecedented stimulus measures began earlier this month. ka rudeo says japan has bottomed out and is showing signs of improvement. he says there are indications that consumer prices will rise. he's confident that the financial market is improving with investments improving. >> the boj released a quarterly report today in which it upgraded the assessments of all regional economies citing strong domestic demand along with recovering economies overseas. >> thank you very much for that. the greek finance minister says the country will aim to achieve a primary budget surplus by the end of the year, allowing it to seek improved debt release terms. the troika national lender agrees athens is on course for

economic buying. that endorsement has paved the way for the next tranche to be paid out and officials saying the money could come soon. thanks very much, indeed, for coming in, hoga. post cypress, the troika rising in portugal today. we're starting a german election. what is your current assessment, no italian government? >> it's still an interesting situation. by and large in the eurozone, we are moving slowly in the right direction. the very, very, very big thing is that the financial markets, the bund markets, the sovereign bond markets are calm. >> is it calm in -- >> well, no, i wouldn't say so. they do expect the european central bank's promise to do whatever it takes for every reforming country in the euro.

that is the best possible development we've had. but we can have all of this excitement would have been. without the italian and spanish bond market tanking, it shows there is no serious contagion at the moment. the contagion from small to big -- >> let's play devil's advocate, because what we need more than anything right now is, for example, a banking union. all of these measures which are only spurred into action when we actually see a market sell-off or markets pushing them, there's the factor means we're not seeing that means we're not going to get knit progress. >> the banking union idea came up last june when it looks like greece might rock out of the euro within weeks. and then we needed a matter to immediately reassure depositors in spain and italy that the money is safe. now we don't need to assure them with the banking order because

thanks to the ecb, everything will be done to keep that order. >> it's now been showing that their money at least in banks is nonsafe. if nothing else, the cyprus issue made this part of it clear. >> well, what we see in markets is that there is not even the trace of panic. cyprus has set a bad precedent, yes. it may come to haunt us. it isn't haunting us at the moment. >> how may it come to haunt us? >> well, if for some reason italy were to sour politically, which i don't think it will, but it is the risk, it is the one big risk out there. all the rest is small fry. italy is the big risk. if it were to come to a major crisis in italy, then the risk of run on bank deposits in italy post cyprus would probably be higher than it was pre-cyprus. but, again, thanks to the ecb and partly thanks to the troika being a bit more lenient on greece now, these risks by and large have faded a bit and we

can focus on other things. >> i was going to say, you have the troika being more lenient on greece, but at the same time they're talking tougher on future bailouts and now the wise men talking about wealth taxes. >> the german wise men. >> yeah. they're talking about neutralizing debt and it didn't go very far. so i would not take that as a german policy component. >> is that why they test policy? >> no. they're academics. they have ideas. some of those ideas get picked up and others don't. in cyprus, foreigners with bank deposits in the country will be eligible to apply for a cypriot passport. he hopes the offer of citizenship and a number of other measures could mitigate to some extent the damage at that time russian business community

has endured. the german finance minister meanwhile saying that he expects the german parliament to improve the cypriot bailout. they are scheduled to vote on the package this thursday. this isn't done yet. we need all of the eurozone countries to sign off on it. >> yes. it's not done yet. we have pretty much passed party support for it. >> there's always the contentious issue that german taxpayer money is being put at risk. so there are serious debates. there is a bit of bailout fatigue. one of the reasons there was such a tough turn on cyprus was we needed something to show to the german parliament that there is pain, especially among the alleged community in cyprus that has now happened and it's going to go through.

>> german taxpayer money is being put on the line, yes. there is not -- so far, the german takts payer money has not made a lost on any of the direct bailouts. they have reduced interest rates, but they're still receiving interest. of course, as in any case where you give credit, you know there's a risk. that's the normal risk of business life. the recovery rate is likely to be at least as high as the recovery rate on any bank. >> would you take a cypriot passport? from i have my comfortable german passport. i am a citizen of the european union. i don't need another european passport. thanks for the offer. >> if you're not a member of the eu, then you get an eu passport, right, providing they stay in the -- >> in the same eu? >> what percentage chance has cyprus, going into a depression now, what is the chance of cyprus leading the euro at some

point? >> probably around 15, 11-5 percent. this offer, if you can assure everybody it will be an eu passport five years from now. >> yes. that's it for now. thank you. nice to see you. we'll hear from the spanish minister in an exclusive issue. >> yes. you'll want to stay tuned for that. and south korean pop sensation psy has debuted his new single, gentlemen, this weekend. so far, people loved it. stay tuned to see how people are capitalizing on this. we'll be right back. welcnew york state, where cutting taxes for families and businesses is our business.

we've reduced taxes and lowered costs to save businesses more than two billion dollars to grow jobs, cut middle class income taxes to the lowest rate in sixty years, and we're creating tax free zones for business startups. the new new york is working creating tens of thousands of new businesses, and we're just getting started. to grow or start your business visit thenewny.com

the spanish government is confident the eu will give it until 2016 to meet budget deficit targets, this according to the country's newspaper in return for the two-year extension, brussels is expected to speed up the program for its reforms. >> this as madrid will present its reform and economic plans to the eu at the end of the month.

julia chatterley spoke with the finance minister at the euro group meeting over the weekend in dublin. she he asked him if this means more austerity at the time of growth. >> it's a fiscal consolidation path and with a new economic outlook. i think that what we have to make compatible is the action of the fiscal deficit. with the impact that this fiscal action might have on the business cycle. that's the deficit target that we want to accomplish in spain. but it doesn't mean more -- in traditional terms. what i want to say and what i want to stress to you is that the induction is something that we have to do. but this fiscal reduction has

been compatible with the situation in the short-term of the spanish economy and the evolution of the business cycle. so i think we have to try to make compatible both elements. this is something that has been started to consider regardless in all the european countries the. are you going to implement more policy to support growth? >> well, you know, every fnl finance minister is -- i do not know any -- >> so keep doing it. >> that's against the growth, as you can imagine. but i think that it's a little bit misleading to say that the reduction of the fiscal deficit is something that is against growth. but we have to do is to reduce the fiscal deficit, to put order in finances. that creates confidence in the country and in the finances of the country. this fiscal reduction path is -- is, you know, compatible, fully compatible with other measures in order to foster medium term

profits. >> can i ask quickly, do you think the market would punish you at this stage if you did try ask reduce the path of fiscal consolidation, if you tried to slow it down, or do you think they have confidence in you now? >> well, i think that spain has made it harder, therefore, in order to reduce the public deficit. it's something that we have made for sure. and now markets are much more confident. with respect to spain, this is something we have seen. we have seen reduction and volatility in the marketplace. now the spreads are narrowing. this is something that is very positive and that we expect is going to be translated into the broad sector. the spanish government is fully committed with an agenda of reforms. we want to foster and to push medium term growth, potential growth with the spanish economy. we are going to continue with reforms in the banking industry,

in the markets and services markets. and i think that also in the delivered market. now the good news is that if you look at spanish exports, you will realize that we haven't been able to close our gap. and now spain is both a competitive economy and an economy that is reducing the dependance that we had on markets. >> i also want to bring your attention to italy. orders with 2.3 billion euros worth apparently collected within two hours for this bond which is specifically aimed at the retail buyer. they've done this before. italy raised something in the range of 7 billion to 10 billion euros of paper going directly to the public. you can see there the ten-year yield is falling this morning, 4.33%. very quickly, collecting about 2.5 billion euros from the

public for the latest four-year bond. >> in the short-term, you probably think those yields are at the bottom of the range. >> they're low. but the fact that there's retail demand there, as well -- >> i know. every time i say there's a retail offer, they're normally buying at the wrong entry point. >> psy has unveiled the latest hit over the weekend. it has smashed youtube's video for the most viewed video in hours. the market is singing its praises, as well been rhi, who i understand has first hand experience watching psy -- >> you've been to the concert? >> yes.

i'm afraid to say this because you guys might be jealous, but i was at the concert on saturday. there was a sense of euphoria. there were 50,000 people gathered in this massive stadium with journalists from all over the world. everyone waited for that music video to be out, and when it did, there was an ecstatic reaction. the new single of gentleman launched 50 million views in four 24 hours. shares riding on the psy bonanza, his agency here closed sharply higher by 13% while the corporation, which is his father's company, wrapped up the session higher with a daily limit of 15%. bear in mind it was a tough market today with the disappointment coming from china and the u.s. remember today is the day of sun in north korea, the 101st anniversary to the founding leader and people are saying jim

jong unand psy who happen to look almost identical, but if we have to keep tabs, psy may be the winner today. >> good stuff. pleased to know. >> you're jealous. you did want to be there. i think you're jealous of psy, frankly. >> i'm jealous of psy. >> i can see some of those mc hammer or psy style pants with the skirt and the -- >> no, i've got a bit of my own style. i might use some plus fours or something. thank you very much for that. still to come on the show, gold prices continuing to slide. is it an opportunity to buy on the low? >> we want to hear from your thoughts.

welcome back to "worldwide exchange." i'm kelly evans. >> and i'm ross westgate. china's economic growth unexpectedly stalls in the first quarter. gdp coming in at 7.7% on weaker industrial output. the flood of earnings rolls this week. a third of the dow and nearly a fifth of the s&p 500 gets set to report results. and greece gets the all clear from the troika following the latest review of its austerity program which exceeds 2.8 billion worth of aid relief. plus, hueo chavez's chosen

successor wins a narrow margin of victory. the opposition leader is contesting the results. a lot of attention has been focused on the sell-off of oil ask gold. futures for the most part are looking to shed about 50 points. 50, almost 60 points at the open. the nasdaq and the s&p 500 are pointed for a weak start, as well. this follows a strong week for these indexes and the question now is whether we're seeing a bit of a pivot point. here is a look at the cnbc ftse 100 overnight shedding 0.4%.

you can see the sell i couldn't have here that we've had in some of those commodities that we've mentioned. and a brief look at european markets, 0.9% down on the ftse. the xetra dax taking 0.6 off. the cac 40 down by 0.75% and the ibex 35, ross, weaker, as well. some say this is a concern about a wealth tax coming out in the eurozone. but i have to say, when you see this kind of reaction in commodities this particular, it is more about growth. you will see basic resources down 3.5%. that explains why the ftse was the weakest of those markets kelly was talking about. and the sell-off across the space, we'll focus on a couple, oil and brent in particular. brent right now, 101.02 is where we stand, the lowest since july 2012. we hit 1184, so nearly around that spot. spot gold 1423. we hit, what, 1427 back in april 2011.

so two-year lows at the moment on spot gold. copper low is off 2%, 328, as well. and that means the aussie dollar has been whacked with a three-month high against the dollar. currently trading 104.18. we did see the chinese 2k5i9 data boosting the yen a little bit. safe haven flow, dollar/yen at the moment, 98.10. it was near that four-year high last thursday, as well. and a recap of the bond markets for you, yields pretty contained. 1.2% capital economics suggesting yields could head back towards the 1.5% mark, as well. spain and italy, fairly well contained. 4.72% and 4.34% and ten-year bund yields at the moment, 1.62%. that's why we stand in this european session. li sixuan rejoins us out of singapore. sixu sixuan. >> thank you, ross. we're looking at a sea of red in

asia today. risk assets and commodity shares were sent lower. the shanghai composite lost 11.11%. commodity plays especially gold miners tumbled following the sharp sell-off in gold futures on wall street. but property majors bucked the down trend after data showed a down trend in real estate investment. a similar picture in hong kong where the hang seng lost 1.4%. blue chip names, especially mingling oil measures took a beating on weak crude prices. japan's nikkei slipped further from the near five-year high down 6% today. the dismal retail sales data jumped lower, but sharp sales jumped after the nikkei reported that the cash-strapped company has decided to sell its 9% stake in pioneer corp. in south korea, an over 4% tumble on steelmakers racked on

the markets. but the plant received preorders of the latest samsung gal axis s4 on friday. gold stocks sharply lower, pushing the asx 200 to post its worst daily showing in a month. india's sensex higher by 0.75%. back to you. >> thank you for that. we were just talking about europe, but we have to say the story right now is gold. >> yeah. gold is continuing to sell off. we're down to two-year lows on gold. i just did 1413 is the -- >> look at 10%. how often do you see a 10% move in anything? >> when we went to 1500, it triggered a lot of -- gold has traded a lot of technicals. it's triggered a lot of -- >> is it normal, though, to see

a selling moment pick up as we declined? maybe we're dropping through some of these 200 weekly moving averages. we haven't done that kind of thing hitting. >> if you're now making losses on gold stocks and you've got the down s&p on record highs -- >> this is what's so interesting. >> are people switching out and saying i'm going to go back into equities? >> right. the argument, as well, is if gold is a proxy for having no faith in the world economy holding it together, is this actually a good sign? when you look at this thing happening, it's hard to read it as all that supportive. >> and the other issue was monetary debasement. wasn't that one of the issues? >> yes. the interesting thing about this happening today is it's happening on a generally risk off kind of day, as want well. is it selling off in conjunction with the weaker risk at attitude

we're seeing there telling us about uncontrolled issues, as well. >> is a dip in gold a buying opportunity or is it time to run away with the bears? that's the question. e-mail us, tweet us. >> i want to know if people are buying here. >> whether you are tempted to buy. it's a very good debate that is going to run heavily today. >> and we'll just see what impact it has as the u.s. trading session gets under way. china's first quarter gdp, and this is part of the story, failed to meet forecasts of 7.7% from a year earlier. that was the slowing from the growth we saw in the fourth quarter. industrial output disappointed for march easing to 9% growth from a reading of nearly 10% in the january and february period. eunice yoon is back with us in beijing. and eunice, china, as it often does releasing a slate of economic figures today. the market reaction to some

extent associated with the weakness that we're seeing. what do you think in particular caught people by surprise? >> well, generally, people were surprised by the industrial output numbers. a lot of people were expecting to see some strong growth there. but overall, the whole numbers were surprising. everyone was expecting to see the numbers meet or beat expectations. suddenly we saw the 7.7% number with the first quarter and that was surprising just because going into this, a lot of us, we were talking about how the economy is so jacked up on credit and also we saw such strong export figures, the natural assumption is that the economy was going to continue to recover. however, we didn't see that. and that's really raising a lot of questions and feeding into a larger debate tease going on here as to just how strong is this current economic model. there's been a lot of questions about it. people are wondering whether or not this investment-led model is going to continue to putter. and one thing that was

interested this morning, as well, was that the authorities had been playing down the slower growth, but also playing up the fact that consumption was playing a larger role in the economy now in the first quarter. and what was interesting about that is because, you know, everyone is talking about how the chinese are trying to move and change the model so that it would transition to rely more on the consumer, but what we don't know is whether or not we're actually seeing that transition now or is it just because the investment portion has come down so much so, naturally, the consumption portion would rise. >> thanks for that, eunice. that's the latest out of china. it's a big week for u.s. earnings with a third of its down and s&p 500 companies reporting results. citigroup leads things off today, out with fist quarter numbers at 8:00 eastern. the bank is forecast to earn $1.18 a share.

ahead of those numbers right now in frankfurt, citigroup talk is outperforming. you can see up nearly 1%. and a reminder, what's on the agenda in the u.s., the national association of home builders releases its monthly sentiment survey at 10:00 a.m. eastern. later this week, we'll get industrial stocks, cti and the philly fed. cti is topping the earnings today. we'll get numbers from charles schwab, m&t bank, first remember and pep boys. australia golfer adam scott may have won the u.s. masters, but he could have done it with more style. hmm? that's what some sources are saying. you can take a look at real g f golfing bling, including a ferrari driver that goes for $2,000. with the fed's printing press chugging away, asian

currencies remain rel ofly muted. find out why in today's guest blolg. plus, investors continue to dump shares in mining today. we are following that story on the website. remember, follow us on twitter @cnbcwex. hugo cha vesz's prodigy, nicholas ma did you ro narrowly won the election. more on this when we come back. welcome to the new new york state, where cutting taxes for families and businesses is our business. we've reduced taxes and lowered costs to save businesses more than two billion dollars to grow jobs, cut middle class income taxes to the lowest rate in sixty years, and we're creating tax free zones for business startups. the new new york is working creating tens of thousands of new businesses, and we're just getting started. to grow or start your business

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hugo chavez's successor nicholas maduro has nearly won venezuela's presidential election, securing almost 51% of the vote. the opposition candidate henrique capriles is refusing to acknowledge the victory until a full recourt is carried out. joining us now, catherine rooney-meres. so is a recount likely here? >> definitely there will be a recount. henrique has called for that.

he suspects there has been fraut frauding. less than 300,000 vote difference, which is significant because the polls had been going into the election, had the chavez candidate up by double digits. >> what's interesting here is people are trying to understand just how much to believe the results. the indictment of the chavez supporters, he didn't win as much as expected or is it too much to make anything out of these figures? >> i think it's fascinating, kelly. one of the most popular presidents in the history of venezuela died a little over a month ago. his sessionon candidate was the dying wish of that president. he had basically unlimited resources of the state and media and still was only able to eek out a win. so i think this shows you that

ma did you r on is severely handicap without chavez. he can't pass on his own capacity to deflect what are the economic woes of venezuela away from his culpability and throw them to someone else. i think that is the key point. the opposition will remain extremely, extremely relevant and i think this opens up the door for a real change in economic policy in venezuela down the line. >> with sort of change? you call it the obsessing of funding and oil revenues will be wearing off and reality will set in. what is that reality and what will need to be done to respond to it? >> so, ross, venezuela is facing a combination of on entangled web of extraordinary policy following multi year exchange rates which has not allowed for

sufficient dollars to pay for all the imports that are needed. what you're faced with is a massive shortage of basic goods, one out of every five basic goods company be found in the super market, for example. inflation is at 20% heading to 30%. the fiscal deficit is at 14% of gdp. public infrastructure is just pathetic. the situation in venezuela is dire. something must change. i think that maduro is going to have to move pragmatic for his own survivability. i think it's going to be difficult for him to see how his six-year term without making some tweaks to the current unsustainable model. >> and this will be a difficult way to start. how much damage will be done if there's a sense that there are widespread irregularities? >> that is the concern. everyone in the opposition has called immediately for fraud. they said this election was

robbed, this was stolen. this is another blow to the view of democracy in venezuela. i think that's the real issue here. but, really, i have to tell you, even if capriles did win, and it seemed that he was about to, the deck was stacked against him. chavez really engrained his control in this country, the judiciary, the legislative, the media, everything. so it would have been a tough term for him and would have required adjustments that possibly would have made him unpopular. these are your headlines. >> china's first quarter gdp missed the mark casting doubt on the strength of the recovery. greece gets the green light from the troik paving the way town lock nearly $3 billion of support. and u.s. investors will see a third of the dow and neerth a fifth of the nasdaq posting

results. and it is april 15th. that is the day when uncle sam comes collecting for some of us. we'll look at how to shake off the tax-day blues when we come back. rfirmation. only hertz gives you a carfirmation. hey, this is challenger. i'll be waiting for you in stall 5. it confirms your reservation and the location your car is in, the moment you land. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. at bny mellon, our business is investments. managing them, moving them, making them work. we oversee 20% of the world's financial assets. and that gives us scale and insight no one else has. investment management combined with investment servicing. bringing the power of investments to people's lives. invested in the world. bny mellon.

welcome back to the program. we're watching gold today because the price continued to

drop in early trade after a finish to the session last week. >> big falls this morning, spot price now 1417. it's about a 4% decline, as you can see. i think once we got to around 1500, people talk about psychological, but there were some technical levels around 1500. quite a lot lower very quickly. >> we're forming here, people in the markets talk about the gold crosses and death crosses. we are in a death cross world lately because we're crossing below the 200 day moving averages and now potentially the 200 week moving average. so a drop of $60 in nominal terms. and this, by the way, is not the only commodity. this is not happening in a vacuum. we're seeing the commodities complex across the space getting taken out to a silver, which people will often say is the story. not today, it's down 4%. i'm not sure that quote is right. but still, we're actually -- the last time i checked was looking down -- >> that's the one.

>> double -- nearly double that of silver. so if you look at -- wa does that tell you? the silver move, if the industrial medal, the growth proxy is off twice as much as gold, it's an interesting case. india is saying its gold imports will be down about 0.25% year on end in april. is gold an opportunity to buy or should you be running away with the bears? get in touch with us, tweet us, e-mail us. now, there are some things happening today. one of them, the federal deadline for filing individual u.s. tax returns. >> i hope you're up on this, kel. >> no comment. no comment. this is prompting many working americans to contemplate just how much of their paycheck does go to the government. on our website, we are taking a look at some of the more appetizing offers, including sin cinnabon's tax day bites.

office depot is offering a more practical solution. it's giving customer us up to 23 free black and white single side copies and document shredding for free. for americans looking for longer solutions to offsetting taxes, she says real estate investments overseas might be your best answer. kathleen, great to see you. this could be complicated for a lot of people, for a lot of americans. it means they're exposed to currency risk. we've seen people making investments in real estate over the past five to ten years and getting burned time and again. why is this time different and is what's the attraction here? >> well, good morning. the big attraction and the idea of buying real estate overseas is diversification. for exactly the reason that you're suggesting. you know, nothing is guaranteed. all markets cycle up and down and so you can lose out on any investment.

the key here is to pull yourself out of u.s. markets where there is a lot of risk and a lot of uncertainty. pull yourself out of the u.s. economy, out of the u.s. dollar, into other markets, many of which around the world operate completely independently of the u.s. real estate market. >> kathleen, what we hear overseas and around the world from investors is how much they like u.s. assets relative to everything else. europe has its own issues at the moment, china, japan. if anything, americans should be thankful. >> i would disagree. you could -- it's not that investing in u.s. real estate is a bad idea right now. there are interesting opportunities, i do agree with that. but the fundamental idea, again, is diversification. it doesn't make any sense, no matter how interesting the opportunities are in u.s. real estate, it doesn't make any sense to be putting everything you have in u.s. real estate or in any other market's real estate, any other real estate market, either. so the idea isn't take everything you have and put it

into real estate in panama, say. that's not diversification, either. and no one's portfolio should be 100% in property. but i believe right now in the current climate property, a hard asset, a legacy asset, it's very important. it's more attractive right now than ever. two things in particular, two things that can throw off a yield, cash flow, rentals and agricultural productive land. those, again, are two long-term hard assets. sure, you could buy them in the united states and that can make sense. but whatever part of your portfolio might be going into that kind of asset, spread it around. look for another market, another currency, as well. >> kathleen, what incentives are there besides that to take environment funds offshore? any sort of proposed fear bes legislation change? >> there is concern. americans are increasingly concerned about the safety, the security of their retirement funds, whatever form they are, an i.r.a., a 401(k), etcetera.

there is an opportunity, it is possible, take your i.r.a., your 401(k), convert it into a self-directed fund, a self-directed retirement fund and then you have control over it and you can use those assets, in fact, to invest outside the united states in, among or things, real estate. this isn't commonly known. many americans wouldn't realize this. but i believe this is a big opportunity because this is where a lot of americans have some capital that is they could be putting to work to them in a more diversify way the. >> so you have to know the market. kathleen, thanks for that, author of "how to buy real estate overseas." we'll take a short break. still to come on the show -- >> citigroup picks up the earnings baton early today. and future are trading ahead of the open for the week. the s&p is currently kaled down 8 points.

welcome back to "worldwide exchange." i'm kelly evans. >> and i'm ross westgate. >> china's economic growth unexpectedly stalls in the first quarter. gdp comes in at 7.7% due to weaker output. gold is down testing the

1400 level after last week closing in bear market territory. and a flood of earnings begins this week. nearly a third of the dow and s&p 500 gets set to report results. and hugo chavez's barely wins the election. the opposition vows to push on. we'll hear from germany's spb peer steinberg. good morning. if you're just joining us on the program, a reminder of what we're seeing in trade across global markets. the last thing is a strong one for the u.s. indexes and does not look to be starting strong today. in particular, weakness in some

of the commodities. >> that's weighing on the ftse 100. all of the mining stocks listed in the ftse, it's been down over a percent this morning. we're off that session low, currently down 0.9%, 0.67% for the ftse and mib markets. >> the gold price, we're seeing a sharp sell-off, picking up off the levels that we saw at the end of the last week. now we're getting closer to that $1400 level. giving up about $60 in spot gold trade. down about 4% in silver, as well. so lest you think this is just about gold, it's not. week sear commodities get hit across the board. and silver, the proxy for the industrial cycle is off twice as much, 8% this morning. a third of the dow, 74 of the s&p 500 companies report results and citigroup kicks things off at 8:00 a.m. eastern. the bank is forecast to earn $1.18 a share and revenue of just over 20 billion.

for more, dick bove join us us on the line right now. what did we learn friday from jpmorgan and wells and what is citigroup going to have to post today to keep its floor under share prices? >> i think with jpmorgan and wells showed was that the refinancing boom in mortgages has slowed down dramatic lit in the united states and that the earnings coming from that source will be lackluster, not just those two companies. but for most of the regional banks in the united states and certainly for citigroup. i think we also learned that because these are multi line companies, they have many sources of revenue, that the weakness in mortgage refinancing could be more than offset by gains in other areas. where we saw the biggest gain was in trading and actually in trading fixed income product. >> and what does that mean for citi? >> well, i think in the case of citi, what we're more interested in at this point is not so much where the revenues are going to be, but where the costs are going to be. in other words, citigroup

eliminated their ceo vickram pandit who i thought was doing an excellent job. they put in a new team. mike o'neal and mike korbatt. and the reason they did this is they wanted to show that citigroup could get control of its expenses and drive its costs lower. so what we'll really want to see is if these two guys can really do that. and that will show up in how they handle expenses. >> we've seen citi retrenching going from being that bank that had a desk or i should say a branch in almost every global market to focusing more on perhaps its core strengths. is that strategy going to pay off for them? >> well, it might. i mean, i'm not sure it will. basically, they got out of concern europe. i think there's almost more branch of the citigroup in russia right now and all of western europe. certainly if you pull poland in the mix, russia and poland have more branches than the rest of western europe. citigroup is making a major bet

from a retail standpoint on its operations in latin america and in east asia. i think that does make sense because they tend to be a pastor growing porth of the world. but citigroup has this massive capital markets operation which does continue to function in western europe and the rest of the world and i think that capital markets is really where the big growth is going to be in bank earnings in 2013. >> and where do you stand on this line? jpmorgan analysts started talking about tune versal banks uninvestble. where do you stand on that line? >> i think it's the most ridiculous thing i've ever heard in my life. i think what we saw in terms of the wells fargo earnings and in the jpmorgan earnings was the benefit of universal banks. we saw the fact that one line of business, which is somewhere between 8% to 13% of earnings,

that that one line of business went down. and when that one line of business went down, it did not take the earnings of the overall company down in either case because they have many lines of business ta they can rely on. as i say, as we saw this weakness in mortgage refinance, we saw this strength in capital markets activity. so i think what the numbers proved last friday pretty dramatically is that you need multi line companies and multi line banks are a far superior way to go in the financial system. >> far superior. i love that. we know where he stands on the debate, dick bove calling in from florida. thanks very much. >> great to speak to you. thanks for that. north of florida, there is no shortage of drama during the final rounds of the masters on sunday. the party is still probably carrying on down under in australia. brian is back at hq in the states with more from the masters. it's never short of drama or

excitement. it didn't fail us this year, brian. >> yeah. even with tiger woods not winning, it was incredible shot for shot. adam scott, the 32-year-old aussie and obviously he ended up winning the tournament, just an incredible performance. this is his putt on 18. he really thought he won it. and he's saying go aussies. greg norman finished second here for a third time. but then angel cabrera comes up and knocks this right at the pin. he's 43 years old. if he would have won this tournament, he would have been the second oldest after jack nickla nicklaus. take a look at this putt. misses by like a quarter of an inch for birdie. examine then the next putt is adam scott and this is to win the masters. it's absolutely clutch and incredible putting. i'll talk about the putter in just a second, guys.

the money isn't relevant for him, but he got $1.4 million for the victory and the can $8 million pool. cabrera got $864,000. cabrera doesn't seem to win any tournaments in this world except the majors. he won the masters in 2009. tiger woods has not won the masters since 2005. he hasn't won a major since 2008. he's trying to reach jack nicklaus and 18 major krips. he took a two-stroke penalty earlier in the tournament on a hole. he actually hit the pin and ended up bogeying. if he had birdied that hole, it's a four-stroke issue. the take away beyond australia winning the masters for the fft time is the putter that adam scott used. the usga has proposed getting rid of this. they call it the belly putter, but the anchored putter.

he basically keeps it anchored to his body beneath his chin. the usga and some others are trying to get rid of it. you can see how it's basically set to his body. a lot of people think that that should not be allowed and putting won the tournament for him yesterday. >> well, they are going to ban it. they've announced it, brian, right? you can't do hinged putting. >> right. i believe it would be -- i believe it will be 2016. the pga here in the u.s. has said they don't want to ban it. so i think there's a sense that it may not be over in terms of debate. tiger woods, rory mcilroy, these guys, all the old schoolers have come out and said they don't think it should be allowed. we'll see what happens. >> the question is, by hinging it, do you -- you're taking out the nerves, right? you're taking some of the nerves out. >> the term even.

>> yep. you can have one in your belly or up here on your children. >> no p i don't like it. get rid of it. it always seems like twieger is about to have his comeback and then i it all comes apart. germany's angela merkel is electioning up for austerity. she'll join us live from munich when we come back. tate, where cutting taxes for families and businesses is our business. we've reduced taxes and lowered costs to save businesses more than two billion dollars to grow jobs, cut middle class income taxes to the lowest rate in sixty years, and we're creating tax free zones for business startups. the new new york is working creating tens of thousands of new businesses, and we're just getting started. to grow or start your business visit thenewny.com all stations come over to mithis is for real this time. step seven point two one two.

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we've begun the countdown for german elections in november. its leader still believes he'll manage to unseat his rival as german chancellor with his agenda of austerity combined with pro growth measures. carolin is in munich and joins us with more. carolin, what's his plan from here on in? >> well, it's all about more social fairness is raising the top tax for the top income earnings, minimum wage introduction of eight euros 50 and about a bigger crackdown on taxes and tougher financial regulation. .it's interesting, ross and kelly, these measures resinate with the german voters. but still, as you pointed out, the social democrats are finding themselves lagging in the polls. if the germans went to the polls today, only 23% of them would vote for the social democrats and only 32% of them believe that steinberg would make a good

chancellor. his problem is not specifically expertise, because he was the former finance minister. his problem is charisma and likability. one of his criticisms of angela merkel's policies was also that was too focused on austerity, there was not enough growth stimulating measures in there. when i spoke to him yesterday, i asked him what extent these austerity would take place of the other issues? >> they won't be replaced. at the moment, we see a vicious cycle of lower growth and higher unemployment. in some countries, you see youth unemployment of more than 50%. lower tax revenues, agencies coming in and downgrade countries and the vicious cycle starts again. it is very important consolidation is enacted, but it needs to be a dosage that isn't steady and it must be an impulse

of coming economics. tougher regulations for the banks. because in some countries, we are not dealing with a debt crisis. is an even closer integration on the cards if you're elected prime minister? >> yes. we are following the tradition. i am trying to make it very clear to my fellow germans, that germany will only fare as well as its neighbors. i want to point out that germany is an export oriented company. with other countries doing poorly, it directly impacts germ thee with its heavy impact growth model.

>> we are now seeing further escalation on a weekly basis. >> so peer steinberg's campaign trail is now in full force. many people have wondered why hasn't angela merkel entered the fray and started their campaign, as well? many have argued all she needs to do is sit back and relax because his blunders and unlikebility are the best thing they can ask for. he called politicians clowns and said he didn't want to drink a bolts of wine that cost less than 5 euros. >> carolin, thanks very much for that the. >> i don't blame him on the latter point. >> i'm too focused on commodities. if you're just joining us on the program, these are your headlines. china's fist quarter gdp missing the mark and casting doubt on

its recovery attempts. and u.s. investors await ago splu of earnings this week. the dow and the s&p 500, nearly a third of them are set to release results. . u.s. secretary of state john kerry has called for a united front against north korea's nuclear ambition. >> the north korea nuclear program threatens not only its neighbors, but its own people. the united states remains open to authentic and credible negotiation on denuclearization, but the burden is on pyongyang.

>> meanwhile, today marks the birthday of north korea's founder. jim maceda joins us now and you said they hadn't started the military parade we were waiting for. what's the latest now? >> that's right. and for the people who weren't watching, the world is waiting for not just a missile launch, but this so-called day of the sun traditionally is the day whhey' out with their latest webry. they want to show off what they've got. now it's an hour later or so and it's getting dark at the end of the day. no sign of a military parade,

much less a missile launch. by the way, north korea never actually said that they would preemptively launch a missile. that was coming more from south korean defense intelligence. however, they are going to try to avoid any provocation, one would think, especially on a day like this that is so important on their calendar. now, it doesn't mean that north korea won't do something in the days ahead. south korea says it's maintaining a very high state of alert just in case. and it says that north korea is ready to launch a missile. but the feeling is that things are now de-escalating. >> jim, how likely is it now that north korea won't accept kerry's offer of direct talks? >> remember, secretary of state kerry offered the talks with a

huge caveat. that is a red line for kim jong un. he's made it clear publicly many times as recently as last week that he wants to build a nuclear weapons arsenal. that is a top priority for north korea. now, the u.s. wants to engage china, wants to get china on board because it's got influence over north korea. but even china is saying that it may not be able to stop north korea from making nuclear weapons. so it's unclear how diplomacy can end this korean standoff. it's been a diplomatic frat um for several years. but now the parties seem to be moving in the right direction, away from confrontation and towards talks. >> thanks very much. still to come, gold is extending losses calling deeper into the bear's ten. >> just how low will prices go this morning? what else are we seeing selling off? we'll be right back. with hertz gold plus rewards,

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welcome back to the program. here is a look at what we're seeing this morning. a lot of attention on gold. spot is just above that 1400 level. it's off $75 just over 5%. ross, still ver is even worse. >> it's the lowest since, what, march 2011. silver is performing worse, quick recap, down to $23.42, off nearly 110% on the session. >> maybe ben lichtenstein will help us sort it all out, president of tradersaudio.com. i can imagine today should be a stressful day. >> it sure should be. basically what we're seeing right now is a bit of continuation pattern from what we've closed on friday. high energy tiftd, major markets on outer extremes. we're talking about metal selling off. you guys mentioned gold and silver. we're looking at crude selling

off, finding levels below $90 a barrel. the only thing i'm really seeing is benefiting, the japanese yen back up above that $102 level. but we're seeing it across the board. i want to point out that there's been a couple of major divergences that have been at play. basically i've been joking around calling it the year of divergence on the stock indices. the market tried to rally, we tried to see new highs. s&ps around that 1586 level, trying to get up into upper levels. but the nasdaq and the russell not willing to participate and is basically we saw self-side activity and is reaction to that throughout the day. the reason i'm pointing this out is because this market has fracked. we all know that when it comes down to time frame pes.what we're seeing on the larger degree time frame is something developing that's very similar to that that we saw on friday on the interday. that is a divergent type activity on the day. the russell unable to get above that 950 level. the s&p and the nasdaq are

finding new highs of the year. but without the participation from the russell, the broader base representation, we're not going to see initiative type activity continue to the upside. we need the russell. >> so we're not going to make higher highs without it. is that wa you're saying b ben? >> yeah. in my opinion, with everything else going on right now, the geopolitical concerns, still concern out of europe. watching these metals plummet here right now, i think there's a lot of information out there for traders to digest. i think there's multiple major markets for them to focus on. eats not just the s&ps right now. without the russell, there's no conformity there. we're going to see low energy, low participation, locum vikz-type trade. usually that's what the divergences bring. >> we'll leave it there. ben, thanks very much. we'll keep an eye on the trading pits today and see how this shakes out. >> thanks for that, ben. meanwhile, we've been asking is a sell-off in gold an opportunity to buy or not? it was tweeted gold is a useless shiny metal.

people want real productive assets. jeff says the truth is gold should never have gone this high. john said he would wait tore prices to slip even further before buying into gold. let's take a look at what's on the agenda today in the u.s. otherwise, again, the national association of home builders does release its monthly sentiment survey at 10:00 a.m. then we'll get data on housing starts, industrial production, and we're keeping an eye out for citigroup earnings due out in just a couple of hours time this morning. we're seeing a sell-off in equities across the globe. we're seeing a sell-off in the commodities complex. 68 points off the dow, but frankly, it's a bigger magnitude, at least in normal terms for gold this morning. >> that's it for the first "worldwide exchange" of the week. the first "squawk box" is coming up next. they will take you to that open today stateside. from kelly and i -- >> have a great day. thanks for joining us.

good morning. weaker than expected data from china putting commodities under pressure. and is how gold went through 1500 like hot knife through butter and now it is below 11400. in the u.s., earnings season about to head into full swing. today's headliner, citigroup. it is tax day, monday, april 15th, 2013. "squawk box" begins right now.